It Made Sense
by The Lily Maiden
Summary: Travis is in bed in the Hermes cabin, and reflects on his life so far. Dedicated to Jane Richard.


**Disclaimer I own nothing except the plot**

**This fic is in honor of Jane Richard, a young girl who lost her leg and is still in critical condition after the events at the Boston Marathon. Her brother was also killed. A big thank you to Matt Patterson, the firefighter who saved Jane's life and ran to her aid immediately after the bombing. **

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Travis lay awake, staring at the ceiling of the Hermes cabin. It seemed as though everyone else was asleep, and the unusual quiet didn't bring a sense of calm to Travis as it usually did. Normally, everything seemed too loud. Even before he and Connor had arrived at camp, Travis had found the world too loud. It had always seemed as though the dark night was the only time of quiet for him, and he craved it with a passion. But now all he wanted was some noise, something to break up the long silence.

He wasn't sure why, exactly, he was craving sound. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the silence. It was more like … he was afraid. Afraid of there not being anymore sound to be heard. Afraid of never hearing someone laugh again, or never hearing another yell of "STOLL!" after a prank he and Connor had pulled. Afraid of what a permanent silence meant - death.

Death.

The word itself had alway reminded him of his mom. She had died when he was eight - Connor was seven. It had been a long, slow, painful cancer, that strained both Margaret Stoll and her two sons. She had been diagnosed when Travis was four, and it was a medical miracle she lived as long as she did. They were all told that they should be grateful that their mom, diagnosed with terminal cancer, was able to live so long. But Travis had always felt that it would have been better for everyone if his mom had died earlier.

Margaret, knowing she was going to die, was no longer the happy go lucky mom after her diagnosis. She became depressed and never left the bed. Travis and Connor had to fend for themselves. But, being young, they often made mistakes - dropping things, buying too much food. Their mom would get angry. A cross of her cancer - which was a brain tumor - and just general depression caused her to hit the boys. Travis was always hit more, simply because he was the one who should have been in charge, as his mom would say. Travis, however, always thought that perhaps it should be his mom in charge instead of him.

Four months before she died, Travis's mom ended up in the hospital - permanently. However, at this point the tumor made impossible for her to recognize anyone. She was rude and mean to everyone she saw, and even her nurse, Hannah - picked because she was the most patient at the hospital - had begun to lose patience with Margaret's rudeness.

The night after Margaret's death, the boys ran away. They had no particular destination in mind - they just needed to get away. Their journey eventually led them to CHB, and they began a new life. They told no one except Chiron about their mom. However, no one could fail to notice that on one day of the year - the anniversary of their mom's death - the boys were much quieter than usual.

That was it. Travis couldn't sleep because he kept remembering that tomorrow - or today for that matter - was the anniversary of his mom's death. Most people would marvel at the fact that Travis and Connor would miss an abusive mom, but they didn't miss Sick, Mentally Ill Mom - they missed Pre-Cancer Mom. A nice, good person, who loved her sons more than anything in the world. Not the sick mom, who had her mind warped by the massive tumor in her brain. No one could blame Margaret for her choices during her last few years, as they were not made by Margaret - they were made by Cancer Margaret, a person from another dimension, another life, invading her mind and forcing her choices.

Travis got up off of his bed. He needed to go for a walk. He really could care less about the harpies - the fight might even get some of the stress of off his shoulders. As he walked out the door, sword in hand, he began to relax and calm down.

When he woke up the next morning, Travis yelled for the cabin to wake up. It was a slow, process, waking everyone up, but it could be done (as the Hermes cabin had proved time and time again). As they made their way to breakfast, Travis and Connor weren't quite as enthusiastic as usual. Several people had noticed.

At sword fighting class, the boy were just fooling around when they heard a crack followed by a scream. They turned and found one of their younger sisters, a nine-year-old named Natasha, lying on the ground clutching her foot. They rushed over to her and got there right after Percy (current sword fighting instructor) got there.

"Okay, Natasha, can you tell me what happened?" Percy said, calmly untying her sneaker.

"I just … I just lunged, and … and I just heard this crack and OMIGODS OWWWWWWW! What did you do that for?"

Percy had just taken off her shoe. "I just need to get a better look. Okay, looks like you broke your foot. I'll take you to the infirmary. Travis, Connor, can you guys hold down fort here?"

"You got it, dude," Connor said.

And this was when Travis realized that he didn't need to mourn his mom or crave the silence anymore. Because he had grown to love the comfort of noise, the feeling of someone else always being there. And he now realized that his family was not just his mom and brother - it included many other people too. The way he had felt when he heard Natasha scream - the fear that something terrible had happened gripped him for a second. It was something he had never wanted to feel again.

He wasn't sure why this revelation chose now to happen. But, with whatever the reason, he chose to accept it.

It made sense.


End file.
